A short discussion of redistricting and an overview of each State Senate primary race.
It may be the middle of summer, but there is a lot going on in Massachusetts state legislature campaigns. This post spends some time looking at redistricting, specifically the new majority minority state senate districts, and then at each of the contested state senate primaries.
The Massachusetts State Senate lines have been redrawn by the legislature after the 2020 Census as required by the constitution. One of the goals of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) is to encourage majority minority districts to allow minority communities to elect the candidate of their choice.
The 2010-2011 MA redistricting based on the 2010 census was signed into law on November 21, 2011 and had three majority minority State Senate districts: the First Suffolk District running on the eastern side of Boston from South Boston down to Mattapan, the Second Suffolk District on the western side of Boston from the South End through Roxbury and Jamaica Plain into Hyde Park, and the Hampden District with West Springfield and most of Springfield and Chicopee.
The most recent 2020-2021 redistricting process led by State Senator William Brownsberger (D-Belmont) was able to add three more majority minority districts: the First Essex, Middlesex and Suffolk, and Second Plymouth and Norfolk.
The First Essex State Senate District contains all of Lawrence, all of Methuen, and approximately 5 precincts of Haverhill (give or take a few census blocks). The previous lines of the district (the dotted line in the map below) did not include Lawrence and instead included a large number of largely white communities. The new lines result in a voting age population that is 36% White, 56% Hispanic, 10% Black, and 3% Asian. The First Essex incumbent, Diana DiZoglio (D-Methuen), is running for Auditor, leaving an open race for a competitive field of candidates from Lawrence and Methuen (see the First Essex primary overview below).
Figure 1: First Essex District
The other newly created majority minority is the Middlesex and Suffolk District with incumbent Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett). Redistricting has added diverse sections of Cambridgeport and East Cambridge, while removing parts of Boston’s West End, Allston, and Brighton neighborhoods. The district ends up with a demographic mix of 46% White, 24% Hispanic, 12% Black, and 15% Asian. DiDomenico does not have primary or general election challenger.
Figure 2: Middlesex and Suffolk District
Figure 3: Second Plymouth and Norfolk District
The other majority minority State Senate districts are the Springfield-based Hampden district of Adam Gomez (D-Springfield), the Boston-based Second Suffolk district of Sonia Change-Diaz (D-Boston) who ran an unsuccessful campaign for Governor, and the Second Plymouth and Norfolk district with incumbent Senator Michael Brady (D-Brockton).
The full State Senate map is given here with dashed lines for previous State Senate district lines and some demographics (partisan lean, etc.).